The company line each week from Rutgers players is that they simply want to be 1-0 on Saturday. But the long-term goal is obvious: A Big East title and a BCS bowl bid.

It's because of the latter that the surprising accomplishments to this point -- the Scarlet Knights are looking to go to 7-0 for just the fifth time in school history when they visit Temple on Saturday -- can't be savored yet, two of the team leaders say.

"No not really," middle linebacker Steve Beauharnais said when asked if he'd taken any time to enjoy what Rutgers has done the first half of the season. "Right after a game everyone will get together and maybe we'll celebrate a little. But sometimes we don't go out at all.

"I was here -- you can ask anybody -- at 10 o'clock in the morning on Sunday (after the 23-15 victory over Syracuse) to watch film on Temple. So there's no time to enjoy it. When you're chasing something that we're chasing there's no time to have fun."

The Scarlet Knights, who opened No. 15 in the first BCS standings Sunday, are also looking to go to 4-0 in Big East play for just the second time in school history this weekend (the 2006 team was also 4-0 in the league before losing).

The prize this year and next for the Big East champion under the current BCS bowl arrangement that expires after the 2013 season is most likely the Orange Bowl.

But getting there means not being caught up in all the attention and the rankings. Rutgers is No. 19 in the AP Top 25 Poll and No. 15 in the Coaches' Poll -- fancy window dressing but meaningless at the moment.

"It's nice because to be where we want to be at the end of the year we need to be somewhere now," said fifth-year senior nose tackle Scott Vallone. "You definitely appreciate it, especially when you've been through a year when you don't go to a bowl like we did in 2010.

"You appreciate those things. I don't think any of us wants to lose what we have right now. I don't think there's going to be any letdown (against Temple) because we have had that bite us in the butt in the past when we've had letdowns at key times."

Rutgers is already bowl eligible for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.